Arizona Public Service doubles funds for residential PV

Arizona Public Service, the state's second-largest utility, on Sept. 22 announced the addition of $2 million to its Credit Purchase Program (CPP), which offers residential customers $4 per W, or up to 50 percent of installed cost, to place PV on their rooftops.   

That nearly doubled total funding for the year to $4.25 million, enough for just over 1 MW at the current rebate level. The initial budget of $2.25 million has already been spent, says CPP manager Barbara Lockwood, adding that the program has taken 274 customer requests as of Oct. 13, and will spend the newly available funds over the next six months or so.

According to Lockwood, changes currently under consideration for the state's Environmental Portfolio Standard (EPS) may more than double program funding again (see PI 10/2005, p. 24). Although the alterations being considered by state energy regulators at the Arizona Corporation Commission include removal of the EPS's 60-percent solar requirement, it is replaced with a distributed generation mandate of 30 percent of the overall goal of 5 percent renewable energy by 2015 and 15 percent by 2025. Half of the distributed generation target would need to be residentially sited. In order to reach this, Lockwood expects annual program funding »in the $10 million range« for the residential PV incentive program. The new EPS rules are not expected until mid-2006.

Garrett Hering
© PHOTON International, November 2005